Human
Formation of men for the Priesthood of Jesus Christ at the Pontifical North American College is characterized by the four pillars of priestly formation as described in Pastores dabo vobis – human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. Of these four pillars, Pastores dabo vobis stresses that human formation is the “necessary foundation” of the formation process of a candidate for priestly ministry. As such, the program for human formation looks to address aspects and elements of what it means to be fully human as exemplified in Jesus Christ himself, the Word made flesh.
Throughout their formation years at the Pontifical North American College, seminarians are challenged to recognize their personal responsibility to become more perfectly conformed to the humanity of Jesus Christ. The College offers a comprehensive program to assist the man on his particular journey of self-awareness and maturity. The four year formation program is systematic and developmental in nature – that is to say, each subsequent year aims at building on the human formation work of the previous year. Each year three formation presentations are presented to each class and are designed to address specific topics and issues pertinent to the growth and maturation process of the seminarian. Some of these topics include: self-knowledge and self-acceptance, relational maturity, affective maturity, sexuality and psychosexual maturity, chastity and celibacy embodiment, ministerial identity and ministerial boundaries, to name a few. Further, at the start of their second year, an intense workshop on sexuality and psychosexual integration is offered. Pastoral counseling workshops are offered to the third and fourth year seminarians at the start of the formation year. This information and important skills training is then integrated into their human formation presentations throughout the formation year.
The Pontifical North American College has as an integral member of its faculty the Director of Counseling Services. This position is held by a priest-psychologist/psychotherapist who offers many of the human formation workshops and presentations as well as functions as the resident counselor for the seminarians when human growth issues surface. Yet another important component of human formation specifically involves the New Men. These seminarians are expected to review their psychological assessment completed for admission to the College with the Director of Counseling Services. This review serves to set the stage for the entire human formation program – identifying potential areas of needed human growth as well as assisting the seminarian to embrace a perspective that recognizes a needed integration of their human formation with their spiritual, academic and pastoral formation.
One of the fundamental goals of the human formation program – in dialogue with the other three pillars of formation – is to assist the seminarian in developing, maturing and integrating the human qualities that will allow him to live and function as a healthy celibate priest of Jesus Christ. It strives to foster in a seminarian a free and informed desire to continue, throughout life, on the journey of self-awareness and maturity. It hopes to promote in the seminarian a sense of personal responsibility to become the person that God has created him to be so as to give clear witness to love of God and service of others in priesthood.
